Category: Community

In what now seems like ancient history, the Portland startup community used to have a gathering called Beer and Blog. Back when the community was smaller. And when people actually used to blog more regularly. Back then, it was the way to meet folks from our online community, offline.

Admittedly, I get a little cranky about the posts that appear on the Portland Startups Switchboard from time to time. But there are also a bunch of good posts that pop up there all of the time—posts that might not get the attention they deserve. So rather than focusing on the negative, I thought it might be nice to accentuate the positive.

There’s this weird thing about milestones: they make you super reflective. Like “rethink the whole world order” reflective. And other things affecting the world order only tend to exacerbate that. So after a decade of blogging about the Portland startup community, I hope you’ll forgive my few moments of introspection. The topic this time? Patreon.

It’s no secret that the Portland startup community has more than its fair share of virtual reality and augmented reality activity. But it’s only going to be a truly interesting, compelling, and vibrant with a variety of voices and experiences. That’s why it’s awesome to see folks like Kerri Lynne Thorp who are working to ensure that everyone feels welcome in this burgeoning community.

Any number of you have had the misfortune of being stuck in a room, listening to me babble about my opinions on the Portland startup community. It happens. And yes, you feel uncomfortable getting up and walking out. I get it. But for whatever reason, I still get invited to talk about Portland startup stuff on a regular basis. And again, for whatever reason, folks even record this sometimes.

When I talk about the Portland software development and open source scenes, one of the first questions I always get—always—is “Sounds interesting. About how many people in Portland are involved in the software community there?”

And inevitably, as that question hangs in the air, I stare blankly. Smile feebly. And say, “A lot. There are a lot.” Because fact of the matter is: we have no idea. Maybe there are 50,000. Maybe there are 200. There’s no telling. Because there has been no measurement of that group. Until now. The Portland software community census is designed to take a stab at coming up with that magic number. Read More